T

he National Police have said that they will prioritize cracking down on members of the militant Islamic State (IS) group next year in light of indications that their numbers are growing in Indonesia.

National Police chief Gen. Sutarman said that IS, which he considered to be a transnational criminal organization, would pose one of the most serious threats to the country next year.

The National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) recently estimated that 514 Indonesians had gone to Syria and Iraq to fight with IS as of October.

Sutarman said that police intelligence had recorded that at least six of the Indonesians who had joined IS had already died fighting, while 10 had returned to the country.

He also said that the police were monitoring foreigners entering the country for possible terror links.

'€œWe also have confirmation that recently four foreigners '€” two from Turkey and two from Chinese Turkestan '€” joined the terrorist group led by Santoso in Poso [Central Sulawesi],'€ he said.

Earlier, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno said that intelligence information showed that there were 110 foreigners identified as IS members in the area, which was ravaged by sectarian conflict in the early 2000s.

Sutarman said the police knew of at least nine individuals who had supplied weapons to the training grounds in Poso, and that it was one of his force'€™s objectives to cut off the supply line.

The police would also take more precautions to protect police officers, he revealed, as militant groups shift their modus operandi from attacking Western symbols such as nightclubs and hotels to targeting law enforcement officers.

'€œThey see us as a threat, whether individually or as an institution. This was evident when four policemen died recently while handling a terrorism case,'€ he said.

Last week, a four-minute YouTube video showed an alleged Indonesian IS member threatening the Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Police and Banser, the youth wing of Indonesia'€™s largest Muslim organization, Nadhlatul Ulama.

Although the government has named IS an illegal organization, there are currently no laws that prohibit anyone from relocating to a combat zone to join the group.

Most individuals detained by the police in connection to IS had track records featuring previous links to militant activity.

Last week, the police named Muhamad Shibghotulloh, one of 12 people arrested in Malaysia for allegedly traveling to Syria to join IS, a suspect on charges of terrorism linked to deceased militant leader Dulmatin. Meanwhile, the 11 others were let go, as there was no evidence they had been involved in previous terrorist activities.